disciplefandomcom-20200215-history
1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians is the fourty-sixth Book of the Bible. The preceding book is Romans, and it is followed by 2 Corinthians. Summary 1 Corinthians is written by Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus before giving his life to Christ, but inspired by the Word of God. Paul is writing to the church of God in Corinth, which is in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Paul is writing Corinth because he has been informed that there are possible divisions within the church, with some members stating that they belong to "Paul" ,"Apollos", "Cephas", amongst others, including "Christ." Asking the question: "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?" 1 Cor:13 NIV, Paul seeks to join the church together by remiding them that we all serve God the Highest through His Son Jesus Christ and our lives belong to Him, not to His servants. He says that, "Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." Paul goes on to teach that wisdom and intelligence, things viewed as valuable in the World, is nothing compared to the wisdom of God, stating "So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb - preaching, of all things! - to bring those who trust Him into the way of salvation." MSG 1 Corinthians 1: 18-21. Pointing out that he did not see many of "the brightest and the best among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these 'nobodies' to expose the hollow pretensions of the 'somebodies?' MSG 1 Cor: 26-31 In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul begins discussing further the wisdom of God, about how when he initially came to Corinth, he did not resolve to bring the news of The Lord in eloquence or human wisdom, but the simple truth of "Who Jesus is; then Jesus and what he did - Jesus crucified". 1 Corinthians 2:1-2. NIV Wisdom and the spirit are central in 1 Corinthians 2 as it delves deeper into the meaning of wisdom; true wisdom, God-inspired. "...but it's not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God's wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of His purposes. You don't find it lying on the surface. It's not the latest message, but more like the oldest - what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our day haven't a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn't have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross." 1 Corinthians 2: 6 - 10 MSG. Ending with 1 Cor2: 14-16 MSG, Paul says, "The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can't receive the gifts of God's Spirit. There's no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit - God's spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God's Spirit is doing, and can't be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah's question, 'Is there anyone around who knows God's Spirit, anyone who knows what He is doing?" has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ's spirit.'" Discipleship Lessons Learned Category:Book of the Bible